This new edition of the classic urban guidebook brings the city’s architectural story up to date.

Harold Kalman and Robin Ward, long-time chroniclers of Vancouver, offer an authoritative and highly readable book about Vancouver’s most interesting places and explain how, why and by whom the city’s urban environment was created.

Containing more than four hundred entries, ten self-guided tours highlight significant buildings from all eras in the city and its metro region, and feature new projects that transform the skyline more radically than ever before. The tours—organized by neighbourhood and planned variously for walking, cycling, car and transit—reveal Vancouver in a constant state of reinvention, fuelled by real estate speculation, immigration and the egos of civic boosters, developers and architects. Today, this dynamic is colliding with architectural and urban planning responses to climate change. For the first time in the series, this edition includes the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples’ role in the narrative, including information on several substantial local projects shaped by these communities and Nations.

For wayfinding, entries are numbered and keyed to maps. A glossary of architectural terms and styles is provided. Exploring Vancouver is the perfect companion for curious visitors and citizens of this fascinating metropolis alike.

Harold Kalman is a specialist in architectural history and heritage conservation. He is the author of many texts, including A History of Canadian Architecture (Oxford University Press, 1994), Heritage Planning (Routledge, 2020), and Exploring Ottawa (Figure 1 Publishing, 2017). He is a member of the Order of Canada and holds appointments at the universities of Victoria and Hong Kong.

Harold Kalman's profile page

Robin Ward was born in Glasgow in 1950, studied graphic design at the Glasgow School of Art, drew and wrote about Victorian buildings for the Glasgow Herald, and published three books on the buildings of Glasgow and Edinburgh. After travelling throughout Europe and Canada, he and his wife settled in Vancouver. He soon became a well-known local, drawing and writing his enormously popular weekly column, "Robin Ward's Vancouver," for the Vancouver Sun and working as an artist, writer, photographer, book designer and architecture critic. Author and illustrator of the bestselling Robin Ward's Vancouver, Robin Ward's Heritage West Coast and Echoes of Empire: Victoria and Its Remarkable Buildings, and co-author and photographer of Exploring Vancouver, Ward has won two City of Vancouver Heritage Awards and a Heritage Canada Achievement Award. He is a favourite guest on local radio and television, speaking on architecture and heritage issues.

Robin Ward's profile page